Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana has undergone reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament.
The 22-year-old centre-back begins his rehabilitation at the Blues’ Cobham training ground while the squad travel to the United States on a pre-season trip.
Fofana, who joined the Londoners from Leicester in 2022 for £75million, featured just 15 times for Chelsea in the Premier League last season as he suffered a number of injury setbacks.
This latest problem comes two years after the Frenchman broke his leg in a pre-season friendly for Leicester against Villareal which saw him miss a large part of the 2021-22 campaign.
Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, Alfie Gilchrist and Bashir Humphreys are the remaining centre-back options at Mauricio Pochettino’s disposal in the US as he prepares for Thursday’s opening pre-season clash against Wrexham.